A plane which crashed into a river near Sydney while the boss of a Surrey-based food company and his family were on board had been "destroyed" in a crash in 1996.

Richard Cousins, chief executive of Compass Group in Chertsey , died alongside his two sons, his fiancee, her 11-year-old daughter and the pilot after the Sydney Seaplanes aircraft plunged into the Hawkesbury River on Sunday (December 31).

While the cause of the crash is still under investigation , the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has confirmed that the De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver aircraft had been rebuilt following a crash in November 1996.

The plane, first registered in 1964, was spreading superphosphate in gusty winds on a farm near Armidale when its left wing clipped the ground and it "cartfwheeled", according to a ATSB report.

The report also states the pilot died in the crash and the airfcraft was "destroyed", but no preexisting problems with the plane were identified.

It concluded: "It is likely that during the turn whilst dumping the superphosphate, the aircraft stalled and the pilot was unable to regain control before the aircraft struck the ground."

Divers have recovered six bodies from the scene and an investigation is under way to determine the cause of the crash (Image: David Oates/AAP/PA Wire)

A spokesman for the Australian Civil Aviation Authority said the plane was then "repaired according to the safety requirements and cleared back into service some years ago."

The wreckage of the aircraft, which plunged into the Hawkesbury River off Jerusalem Bay, 25 miles north of Sydney city centre on New Year's Eve, is currently being examined by investigators.

The bodies of Mr Cousins, his sons, William and Edward Cousins, his fiancée Emma Bowden and her daughter Heather were recovered. The pilot Gareth Morgan also died.

Chief executive Richard Cousins died alongside his fiancee, his two sons and her 11-year-old daughter (Image: PA)

Two days after the crash, Nat Nagy, executive director of the ATSB, told a press conference the plane has "been in use and service for many decades".

He also said that it was not unusual to have a plane of that age still in use.

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